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E36 (1991 - 1999) The E36 chassis 3-Series BMW was a huge hit among driving enthusiasts from the first moment the car hit the pavement. The E36 won numerous awards over the years it was produced and is still a favorite of many BMW enthusiasts to this day! -- View the E36 Wiki

I eventually sorted the droning noise from the rear of my car....turned out it WAS the right rear wheel bearing. £40 and now sounds great. Such a good mechanic so I had him do some MOT advice work and rebuilt front right suspension (wishbone, drop link rod and track rod) for £120.
BTW not been around for a bit as I have been browsing the convertible section on bimmerforum. This is quite good to tap into for 'vert specific issues but not always heavily populated.

Hey there, great thread. I'm currently troubleshooting a load of small noises in a recently acquired '97 M3. Here's a tip for y'all, check that the door trims are tight against the panel. New plastic clips can be bought from the BMW stealer of pence... and removed door trim rattles instantly! When doing this, don't be afraid to 'muscle' the panel off in the first place.. it's damn tight"

I have a 'squeak' when pulling away or accelerating from it sounds like the rear seat. or perhaps below it. No knocks or anything when driving (had new bushes to fix that), just a one off 'squeak' when pulling away. even had the wife drive it with the rear seats out so that I could locate it... any ideas or similar experiences?

I had some podunk mech look at it and all he said was "Your rear end is almost off the frame" I immediatly left. This is just a fun car, I own it. I beat it, and it blows in the snow. Just seeing if i HAVE to fix it, or it SHOULD be fixed. If i drop the clutch at about 3K its like BANG!!! If I ease off the clutch, its just sqeeks. I fixed one of the RSM already that took another noise away lol I wish I knew who had this car from new, cause they have absolutly NO respect for a BMW. Dumbass!!! Weekly and Monthly maint. on any vehicle is a must. My truck feels bad for my little bimmer

No offense but it sounds like you don't have very much respect for your bmw, you should never drop the clutch in any bmw, they arent made for it, dual mass flywheels get ruined from it and it is hard on the whole car. Bmw is a track car not a drag car, if you want a straight line car by a mercedes..
cuz there to heavy to turn corners anyways hahaha.

there is a noise coming from the rear drivers side, it sounds like a tin being dragged along the floor. It only makes the noise over bumps but stops when i hit the brakes, even just slightly touch them and it stops. i have checked the brakes and cant see anything out of the ordinary. please could someone write me a list of possibilites for what is causing it.

Had a crazy loud chopping noise like i was running over a robotic dog from the rear whenever i accelerated until i hit around 35 mph and would be fine except for the drastic drop in power. Turned out to be the universal converter joint.

there is a noise coming from the rear drivers side, it sounds like a tin being dragged along the floor. It only makes the noise over bumps but stops when i hit the brakes, even just slightly touch them and it stops. i have checked the brakes and cant see anything out of the ordinary. please could someone write me a list of possibilites for what is causing it.

OK this looks like the best place to post this. I am getting a signal "click" on acceleration from the right rear. Get more of a "clack" if I let off the gas hard. No squeaks or other sounds from out back there. If I hop on and off the gas it go click clack (did this to find out where/witch side it was coming from

My E36 Evo convertible '99 has been on the ramp more times than I can count now. New rear trailing arm bushes, new rsms.... back end feels amazingly tight to drive but still a 'rattle rattle' over bumps. The garage never found it... but I have a solution for you all!

If the rattle from your back end is more of a 'chatter' over small bumps, try driving over bumps with your left foot slightly on the brake pedal. Does the sound go away? I might well. In which case you will find that the retention clips on the inner brake pad that hold it against the piston have broken. Solution, new brake pads. Without this clip that is part of the pad, the pad an rattle a few mm in the caliper.

The 'squeak' when pulling away, no idea. never found it, but it cured itself.

there is a noise coming from the rear drivers side, it sounds like a tin being dragged along the floor. It only makes the noise over bumps but stops when i hit the brakes, even just slightly touch them and it stops. i have checked the brakes and cant see anything out of the ordinary. please could someone write me a list of possibilites for what is causing it.

Clip on the inside brake pad. Get new pads. Its fiddly but you will find that you can move the brake pad with your fingers and the car at a stop (make sure it's not hot first).

I've experienced three more types of clunks from the rear. I found the shock mount noise to be higher in the chassis as well as somewhat higher pitched. Sounded like hitting two 2x2's together. There's a lower pitched clunking that seems to originate from the floor in front of the rear wheel wells. It comes and goes but is noticeable when driving over poorly paved surfaces. It sounds like a door isn't closed and is rattling. It's the rear trailing arm bushing (RTAB). What happens is the rubber bushing gets compressed and allows the arm to rattle against its mount. It's in the floor just ahead of the rear wheel. Mine let go at 140k. An Indy shop charged me $260 for labor and $40 for parts. RTABs sound like worn CV joints but make their noise going over bumps. CVs make their noise when driving the car into a hard curve at low speed. CVs are easy to check - just grasp the half shaft (betwen rear trailing arm and diff) there should be NO vertical or front to back motion.

OK this looks like the best place to post this. I am getting a signal "click" on acceleration from the right rear. Get more of a "clack" if I let off the gas hard. No squeaks or other sounds from out back there. If I hop on and off the gas it go click clack (did this to find out where/witch side it was coming from

Well get my car back tomorrow from having the subframe fixed. If you think you have this happing to you, get it fix as fast as you can. I drove on mine for close to six months and was told that it was one of the worst ripped up rears they had ever scene. They had to cut the floor on the inside of the car to fix it right ( 95% of the time it can be done from the under side) They had to weld a plate on the top of the mounts be for they could weld in the new reinforcement plates.
The flip side to all this is I was told that it looks like my car has been very well taken care of over the years (93 155k on it) as they found all sorts of new bushings and other parts that they would replace at this time that where already new

If you ever hear a really horrible metal on metal cracking sounds it's most likely your lower control control arm bushing. Bad thing is when I got it fixed it was really expensive I took it to midwestern auto group that was my first mistake and learned later that I could do it myself...

How's it going?
Good advice Kyle.
Done a few rear bearings without any puller or press tools, used a home made slide hammer for one, the others i removed the trailing arm, pretty easy to do, but be sure to mark the mounting bracket position. Also mark the eliptical bolt head at the lower control arm ( this should help get the geometry right ). Once the trailing arm was out i tapped the drive shaft out and then used a lump hammer and some brass to get the hub out from behind. To get the outer race out i used a lenght of thick treaded bar with nuts, washers and bits of scrap metal as spacers to press the bearing out. Used the same rod to get the new one into the trailing arm and the hub into the bearing, using the old bearing parts as spacers ( they usualy break when being removed).
People attempting this should beware that when fitting the new bearing into the trailing arm to apply force only to the outer race and when pressing the hub in to apply force only to the inner race.
Also clean the inside of the hub and the splines on the drive shaft and apply some engine oil to aid easy re-assembly.

there is a noise coming from the rear drivers side, it sounds like a tin being dragged along the floor. It only makes the noise over bumps but stops when i hit the brakes, even just slightly touch them and it stops. i have checked the brakes and cant see anything out of the ordinary. please could someone write me a list of possibilites for what is causing it.

I have the same issue, and i believe i have found the problem.

The inboard brake pad has retaining clips/springs on the back side that hold it in the caliper. The clip/springs have broken off and are allowing the brake pad to float freely. This does not effect braking at all, but rattles like the car is going to fall apart every time you hit a bump. You may have to replace rotors and pads at the same time to prevent squealing. Looks like a pretty easy fix though.